Storylab: Writing Time Travel Stories That Make Sense!

From the writer and producer of the Tales from the Moosiverse podcast comes Storylab: Writing Time Travel Stories That Make Sense!, a 6-week creative writing program for 8-12 year-olds.

The purpose of these workshops is to grow the writer/storyteller. These classes will NOT cover writing mechanics like spelling or grammar. There are no grades or work submissions; just activities and sharing to equip and support individuals’ growth and development as writers and storytellers. Each group of 5-10 kids will develop a supportive community, allowing kids to hear and be heard.

Each person has stories to tell and tales to write. Storylab: Writing Time Travel Stories That Make Sense! helps participants learn about the wide range of time travel stories - why they work, how they work, and what rules different writers use - all while telling some stories of their own.

This series will involve some writing at home between classes (amount of writing is flexible depending on child’s interest).

This LIVE workshop takes place on Zoom. Other than a computer, kids will only need something to write on and something to write with. Some younger writers may prefer to use dictation on a mobile device or computer to get their thoughts in writing, which is great!

We'll look at some classic time travel stories including Back to the Future, The Time Machine, Doctor Who, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Groundhog Day, Avengers: Endgame, and our very own Tales from the Moosiverse. It is not necessary to be familiar with any of these stories ahead of time. We will explain the story and what it illustrates about time travel; we will not play any clips.

Topics include:
Story-growing games
Types of Time Travel Stories
Story of the Week: What, How, and Why
Time Travel Tool of the Week
Storytelling tips
Writing support and feedback
…and more.

The general outline is as follows:
Session 1 - Meeting the class; time travel overview; writing prompt based on stories you know.
Session 2-3 - Deep dive into time travel stories; short writing assignments to begin your own story.
Session 4-5 - Themes: Paradox and Butterfly Effect; drafting and completing your own story.
Week 6 - Sharing and celebrating each others' stories.

Each session follows a similar format:
1) Community building ice breaker related to the theme of the week.
2) Mad Libs-style game for the group to create a story together.
3) Story-growing and story-sharing - using story-prompt images to create a story - How did the image happen? What's going on? What might happen next?
4) Sharing what was created at home - using each week's worksheet to move us forward on our journey as writers.
5) Time Travel Story of the Week - understanding the story and the rules it illustrates, and how students might write their own stories using this framework.
6) Time Travel Tool of the Week - exploring an interesting idea that might inspire students' own stories for their "creating at home" worksheet.
7) Session close.